The Illinois gymnastics teams start their seasons tonight with the annual Mixed Pairs meet at 7 p.m. in Huff Hall. The Illini are thrilled to be back in their home venue and are looking forward to their first meet of the 2003-2004 campaign, despite its non-traditional format.

Each member of the men's team pairs up with a member of the women's team. Both athletes choose two events to compete in. Each individual pair will challenge the rest of the Illini, with the two individual's scores being combined to determine which couple is the best.

"I think this is probably the most ready that we've been, even though it's a practice meet for us to get going." senior captain Bob Rogers said. "We're definitely ahead of schedule, so I feel pretty comfortable."

The women are just as excited.

"This is a great warm-up for the rest of the season," junior captain Ashley Williams said. "It helps us get in the competitive mode and will show us how prepared and ready we are for the season. During your first meet there are always a couple of mistakes, but it will show us how hard we need to work over Christmas break."

Sophomore Justin Spring will be competing in the event for the first time. Last season, he suffered a wrist injury that eventually required surgery and could not compete in the Illini's debut meet.

"Mixed pairs is our one fun meet," Spring said. "If you don't do well, it's not like it's against another school. It's all about having fun and having a good time."

The competition will also help the athletes get in the competitive mindset. Although the teams have been training for months, the Illini officially ended their season in the spring, when the men's team placed fifth at NCAAs and Williams and senior Kara Kapernekas qualified for regionals.

"Everyone's looking forward to it," said men's head gymnastics coach Yoshi Hayasaki. "Part of the reason is that they're healthy, and they are much ahead of our (training) schedule right now. They are so eager to compete. Everybody's not going to compete in all of their events, but at least everyone will get the taste of competition with the judges in front of them and the crowd."

Rogers has seen the Illinois following change a lot since his first Mixed Pairs event, and he's excited to return to Huff Hall.

"When I first came here, our crowd wasn't quite as into it, but I've noticed now that we have a lot more students coming. People are actually getting loud," Rogers said. "Usually at a gymnastics meet people think they have to be quiet and not cheer, but since we've got more students, it's gotten pretty loud. It's a pretty motivating place to compete."

The competition will not only benefit the athletes, but the coaches as well.

"They like to be at home, in front of a crowd, like any other sport," women's head gymnastics coach Bob Starkell said. "Any time they can get in an extra practice or competition, prior to season, it can help them out quite a bit. We can evaluate their weaknesses and look at some of the individuals that will be strong or key in different events so that we can have a potential lineup in January."

When January comes, the teams will be ready. Hayasaki's squad lost just one senior to graduation and was ranked third in the nation in the preseason GymInfo poll. The men will host both the Big Tens and NCAAs this year, while attempting to win the national title in Assembly Hall. Starkell's group will aim to earn a regional bid as a team.

"Making the team finals last year is a big step that we haven't accomplished in a few years," Rogers said. "It gives us a new place to start at this year, and the fact that we didn't lose many people — except Bob Spellic, our captain last year — basically, we're essentially the same team this year. Most of the other teams have lost a lot of guys."